On Tuesday, Rig Hand Distillery moves into its new Leduc County location, but a key part of the team is missing from the experience — Seymour the Elk.
“I couldn’t believe it. Who in the world is going to take this giant elk?” said Rig Hand President Geoff Stewart.
“It’s huge. I can barely lift it by myself. It couldn’t fit through a regular doorway, so whoever took it — I don’t know what you’re gonna do with it.”
Geoff Stewart said they made the mistake of leaving their beloved mascot outdoors overnight and that’s when he went missing several days ago.
“We definitely want him back. He’s a big part of the fabric of what Rig Hand Distillery has kind of evolved into — being a community business.”
Seymour has been part of the Rig Hand Family for six years and has become somewhat of a local celebrity.
“We drag this giant elk head…to all the football games, to soccer games, to golf tournaments, and things like that,” Stewart said. “When the Elks season fires up here on June 11, we want to make sure he’s there at the tailgating again.”
The distillery has even established its own ceremony involving Seymour.
“It’s kind of like a mimicking of the Newfoundland screeching ceremony where you put on a hard hat and you give Seymour a bugle and give him a kiss and do a shot of our rum.”
Stewart is asking people to keep an eye out for him.
There’s even a $1,000 reward for anybody that brings him back and he’s unique enough to spot because of his mounting bracket.
“There’s no other elk in Alberta that will have this strange receiver on the backside of him,” he said.
Stewart noted people with an elk farm near the distillery offered a replacement if Seymour doesn’t come home.
“That’s the worst case scenario I guess, but we really want the original Seymour back if possible,” he said.